by Mike Snider, USA TODAY

by Mike Snider, USA TODAY

Stone Brewing is taking its craft to Germany, a country with some of the deepest brewing roots in the world.

The Escondido, Calif.-based Stone, which is ranked No. 10 in sales volume among U.S. craft breweries, plans to open a brewery in Berlin within the next two years. The move makes it the first American craft brewer to independently own and operate a brewery in Europe.

Plans were announced Saturday during an event at the planned site in Berlin. Construction is likely to begin in the coming months, aiming for an opening in late 2015 or early 2016, says Stone CEO Greg Koch.

He and Stone President Steve Wagner, who co-founded the original California site in 1996, began talking about European expansion five years ago. "I've always been a bit of a Europhile since I first came across the pond in 1980 as a high school student and was just fascinated by the culture and the interesting differences of the Old World," Koch says. "Also, we get a lot of people who request our beer over here. But the challenges are, of course, making it available to them fresh and at a reasonable price, because the cost of exporting it all the way from California is significant."

Stone's plans include spending more than $25 million to renovate a historical gasworks in Mariendorf, a Berlin suburb, to house the brewery operations. A total of three buildings are planned - a 43,000-square-foot production brewery, restaurant and company store; a 20,775 square-foot packaging and distribution center; and a building for private events.

In addition to its own beers - including Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone IPA, Go To IPA, Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA - Stone will offer German-made craft and artisan ales on tap and in bottles at its restaurant.

Also to be brewed at the new Berlin site are several special beers, done in collaboration with other breweries, that can be reserved starting Saturday on the Indiegogo crowdfunding site. The three initial beers will be made with Scotland's BrewDog, Italian brewer Baladin and a third made with Victory Brewing (Pennsylvania) and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Delaware).

You can reserve a beer for $50; the commemorative 1.5-liter bottles will be available for pickup at Stone's breweries in Escondido, Berlin and a planned East Coast brewing site Stone is in the process of securing, and Stone's Pasadena, Calif., store.

The German expansion makes sense, Koch says, because interest in American craft beer is blossoming overseas just as it is in the USA. "If we go back just four or five years, you might find a small handful, if you could even find them at all, of brewers making pale ales or (India pale ales) in Germany," he says. "Fast-forward to today, and there are literally dozens of IPAs and pale ales, and many are specifically labeling them as West Coast-style IPA and San Diego-style double IPA and black IPA."

Stone's project is "really exciting and ambitious," says Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione, whose brewery also teams up with Baladin and another Italian brewery, Birra del Borgo, for several brewhouses in the U.S. and Italy and one planned for Rio de Janeiro.

"I love to see breweries do projects and collaborations overseas, because it helps to prove that American brewing culture is world class," he says, "and has an audience beyond our country's borders."